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Heroin and Opioid Epidemic Hits Our Nationby Emma

When I first was assigned my backpack story, I read over some of the topics. I immediately knew that I wanted to cover the opioid crisis. I knew that a lot of people struggle with opioid dependence and I really wanted to be able to tell the story of those struggling and how they can get help.

I was really excited to do the story, but I realized that I don’t know anyone personally that struggles with opioid dependence. Luckily, MT connected me with an anonymous recovering addict that we were able to interview. I also have a friend’s mom that is a probation officer and I interviewed her. Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to use her interview due to legal issues, but I ended up interviewing a substance abuse counselor instead. It turned out to be a great interview!

After finishing up all the interviews, I started to slate and log. When I finished slating and logging, I had the extremely difficult task of picking what I wanted to use in the story and letting go of clips that I really liked in favor of stronger soundbites. After I finished planning out what I wanted in the story, the script just began to plan itself out. It flowed really nicely.

Once I finished the script and began the editing process, that’s when everything really started coming together. The biggest obstacle about this story was finding b-roll. Luckily, MT was able to find royalty-free shots that we were able to use. To be honest, the story wouldn’t be the same without some of these shots. After everything was laid out, I realized that I needed more b-roll to lay over voice work, so I went and took extra shots to fit the script.

Overall, I’m really pleased with how the story turned out. Since it was my first solo story, I was pretty nervous. I’m happy that I got to do a story that will hopefully help others realize that they are not alone and deserve help. Addiction is something to not be ashamed of, but to conquer with the help of professionals.